From The Stars We Come
by Nuclear Bacon
Summary: The life and trials of an N7 Ops team. Rated T for violence, language.
1. Introduction: The Vanguard

**January 27th  
11:12 P.M.  
2186  
Earth**

"But mom, I don't wanna go back to camp! I just want to hang out with my friends this summer and not do things that make my head hurt!" Melissa Young whined. Her mother had sent her to a biotic acclimation summer camp since she demonstrated biotic potential. Both of them were surprised that someone offered a seasonal biotic training course, and even more surprised it was legitimate. This will be her 11th year of going, and coincidentally she was leaving for the summer on her 18th birthday.

"Now honey, we've had this conversation every year, you need to hone your skills, even if that means you don't get to hang out with your friends for a few months," her mother said. Melissa made whiny noises in response and stormed up the grand stairway to her room, feet slapping the marble floor angrily. She slammed her door shut and put her headphones on, queuing up Expel 10's latest album. She looked out the massive bay window in her room out to the night time African waters.

Her dad had pioneered a new way to harvest helium-3 off of gas giants, and was currently off-world in the Kriseroi system, charting the gas giant Geus for viability as a primary He3 producer. He was often off world, but the royalties from so-called "gas cracking" let Melissa and her mother buy a mansion in the Azores on Earth.

Melissa absent-mindedly made her hand glow blue, she always loved watching the blue biotic sparks jumble and radiate out, like how smoke wafts from a flame. Her mother, once they confirmed she was a biotic, bought only the best training, implants, and amps a gas cracking fortune could buy. She was outfitted with L5n implants, at her father's wishes. Her coach said she was a gifted biotic, but she didn't like it because it made her head hurt. _What's the point of it anyway_, she thought,_ it's not like I'm going to join the Alliance or something. It's so dumb._ She groaned as she remembered she had to go to biotic training after school tomorrow, then a tutoring session.

She shut off the album, flipped her long black hair behind her, and climbed into bed. She touched a button on her omni-tool, and it glowed 11:34 brightly. She pulled the sheets over her and tapper her omni-tool again. The lights dimmed until it was black. Melissa felt a cold breeze wafting from her window, and the room glowed brilliantly blue for a moment as she pulled it shut biotically. She pulled her blanket closer around her, then slipped into a deep sleep quickly.**  
_**

**Kinda short, I know, but I'm just starting out. First few chapters will be introduction. I will try to update every Friday night around 8 after this, I just wanted to get this out there. If I miss an update, seriously message me or something. I sometimes have problems finishing stuff like this, and I really want to, so keep me on it. And remember, reviews make my story better! Also, I didn't actually write the story with this site in mind, so it might have some weird layout stuff.**


	2. Introduction: The Sentinel

**February 4th  
3:00 P.M.  
2186  
Illium**

_meeting in room 2b at 3 today. boss is being a real d today, huh? -L._

Tarya Dalian closed the email and sighed. Her computer screen glowed brightly, clock flashing 3:00. She cursed as she realized the meeting started 30 seconds ago. She jumped up from her chair and started gathering papers into a bag. She ran as fast as possible to the meeting room and stood outside for a second. She walked in as quietly as possible, trying not to draw attention to the fact that she was late yet again. The salarian at the holo-board squinted at her.

"Ah, I see miss Dalian decided to join us. Yes, well, unless we have any further distractions, let's get back to the numbers. Profits are up 1.1% from last quarter, Promanthinol supplements selling better than predicted, and blah blah blah..."

Tarya tuned out what he was saying, just like every meeting. She sighed inwardly and picked up a pen. Her skin was a deeper purple than normal; it was must've been hot in the meeting room. As the salarian droned on and on at the holo-board about sales figures and bull markets and business, Tarya fantasized for the millionth time about her jumping out a window and flying off.

_Stupid_, she thought, _you can't even lift a coffee mug with your biotics, how can you expect to fly?_

A blue spark leapt off the turian sitting next to her's shoulder. She absent-mindedly thought about how the office hags will have a field day if they knew that. The subject of who and who isn't a biotic had been a prevailing topic. She has stayed completely out of the discussions and speculation, for comfort reasons. She once asked them to stop, it could hurt someone, but none of them listened. She looked down at her suit and adjusted her lapels and tie. She always hated wearing suits, she always felt the charming expression "monkey suit" was accurate when she wore one.

Tarya continued to drum her fingers on the desk, fantasize about flying, and thinking about how awful meetings were for an hour before it was over. The salarian wrapped up his business presentation on business things, and everyone got up to leave. As Tarya was thanking the goddess silently for letting the meeting out shorter than normal, her boss stormed up to her.

"Dalian! You're going to Earth next week to secure some rich human's partnership. Don't fuck up," he said.

"Yes sir mister boss man sir!" Tarya said, with just a hint of a smile.

"Don't get snippy with me or I'll have you fired. Now get back to work!"

Tarya rolled her eyes and walked back to her cubicle. Her boss, a hardass turian, was indeed a dick today. So, he was his normal self. She sat back down at her desk and stared at the computer screen again. There was an unfinished report staring her down for a good 20 minutes before she decided to just take it home. She looked around to see if her boss was looking, then loaded up Minesweeper. _For such a simple, human game, it's pretty damn addicting_, she thought. She clicked away at tiles and bombs until the computer clock flashed 4:50. She gathered all her stuff up, and went to punch out. After summoning an elevator and seeing it full, she let a drell businessman behind her take the last spot.

"I'll just take the next one!" she offered weakly as the elevator doors closed. She sighed again, and summoned one on the other side. After getting to the bottom floor and wading through the rush hour traffic, she arrived at her apartment and went to sleep early.  
**_**

**2nd chapter wooo. Review and I'll get your name tattooed on my junk (I won't actually do that).**


	3. Introduction: The Soldier

**February 27th  
4:32 A.M.  
2186  
Uncharted world**

"HA HA! PUNY MERCENARY! I AM KROOOGAN!" Thorak Kral yelled.

He charged at an armored merc as he was turning around. For a split second, Kral could see the fear behind the his mask before he gutted him with his shotgun omni-blade. He lifted the shotgun up in the air, with the merc still on, and fired. The pirate flew off and hit the asphalt with a sickening wet thud. Kral stood, breathing heavy, for a moment on the abandoned road.

His two friends, or, "friends," were both dead next to him. And in front of him. And behind him. And still raining down above him.

When no more pirates showed up, he walked over to a small prefab building connected to the road into the woods. He found what he was looking for: 100 kg of pure, unadulterated Illian red sand. The Eclipse stole it from him a few weeks back, and he intended to recapture it.

He hoisted the chest with one hand and looked around for more stuff to loot. He found some boring guns, some nice guns, and a whole bunch of prisoners.

"Uh..." Kral mumbled. The prisoners all turned their heads to the sudden noise in the doorway.

"Are you here to free us? Oh, thank the spirits!" A notably civilian turian said.

"Uh... Yeah. Sure, uh, come with me. But don't slow me down." He tossed all 6 of them cheap pistols for defense. The hastily-set up streetlights, in this case a bunch of thorium mining lamps, cast a dark reddish glow, on account of the blood smeared on them.

"Oh Goddess..." one asari prisoner said when they saw the street, slick with blood and bits of people. One of them threw up.

"Come on, this way, my shuttle's just across this weird, inexplicable road. Once we're there, I'll figure out what to do with you all." Kral said. Kral wiped his green crest, and found it coated in semi-coagulated blood.

There was a sudden, loud crack. Then a body slumped to the ground behind him.

For a split second, there was pure, stunned silence. Then all hell broke loose.

3 snipers revealed themselves, and took shots at the hostage group. Kral looked behind him and saw them frantically running for their lives. He checked the heat sink on his rifle, and charged.

One of the snipers was prone on the ground, military-grade sniper rifle pressed up against him, aiming at _oh shit! A charging krogan!_

The merc scrambled to his feet, trying to run away from the charging krogan one-handing an assault rifle. Kral saw the merc shuffle around, slowed for a second, and hurled the crate of red sand he was still carrying at the merc. It beaned the merc in the skull, caving in his faceplate. Kral sprinted past, grabbing the now-bloodied crate off the dead merc's face.

Kral aimed his rifle, one-handed, to his side and fired a burst. A merc in a low-grade ghillie suit fell out of the tree, riddled with gunfire.

Kral suddenly remembered he had to protect civilians, and doubled back. He burst through the thick forest, back onto the crude road, and was stopped short by a bullet.

He had been shot before, many times in fact, but this was a phasic sniper round at near-point blank. Even with the best armor drug running money could buy, the bleeding wouldn't stop. Kral kneeled down, putting his hand over the fresh wound.

Kral noticed something. Even with him holding an assault rifle and a (very heavy) crate full of illegal drugs, the merc still thought he was in power because he held a bigger gun, and a group of civilians. Kral snickered.

"You! Krogan scum! What the hell are you laughing at? You've lost! I'm in control! I have the power!" The merc laughed.

"Heh. Heheh. Hahaha. Ahahaha!" Kral laughed maniacally. He stood up, other heart already kicking in to high gear, and hoisted the crate over his head. The merc leveled his gun at Kral again, suddenly scared.

"Do you feel in power, tiny mercenary?"

Kral secretly thanked himself for taking a year of shock-put when he was off-world. He heaved the crate at the mercenary with a running start. The merc shot at the crate in vain before it caught him full in the stomach. Before he even hit the ground, Kral fired a stream of bullets into his chest. He walked over to the merc, now lying on the ground and bleeding out.

"Fuck... You..." The merc coughed out. Kral kicked the crate off him, and the merc gasped. He put his boot on the merc's faceplate, and crushed.

He took count of the civvie group, only one lost in the fighting. _Good, _he thought.

"Alright people, that was interesting, but let's head out to safety."

He ushered the group into the hanger door on his ship, then headed up to the cockpit. He fired up the engines, plugged in Illium as the destination, and kicked back.

**Longer chapter than before, and better formatted. The last two chapters were written outside , but this one was written here, so the line breaks aren't as choppy as before. And hey, look at that, I updated! On time even! And remember: A review a day keeps the doctor away!**


	4. Introduction: The Inflitrator

**January 6  
2186  
11:16 AM  
Unknown; presumed Rannoch**

**_Analogue diagnostics_**

_Appendage servo-motors_

_Left leg-check_

_Right leg-check_

_Left arm-check_

_Right arm-check_

_Neck-check_

_Joint motors-all check_

_Structure sound_

_Hard drive-check_

_Inside hardware-check_

_Audio receptors-check_

_Visual receptors-check_

_**Digital diagnostics**  
_

_Awareness-check  
_

_Thought-check_

_Check?_

_"We are Geth"_

_"We are..."_

_"We-"_

_"WeWeWeWe-"_

The mechanical body started twitching. It started to spasm and convulse, the smell of burning ceramics and metals filling the vacuum around it. Two more geth noticed the platform melting on the assembly line. They picked up the heap of slag and went to the incinerator, the last funeral pyre for defective geth. It also serves to recycle. As the geth platform carrying it reached the incinerator, it suddenly flickered to life.

_"We cannot be Geth."_

The once-dead form suddenly jumped to life. The activation caught the geth platform carrying it off guard, giving the rogue platform time to push it into the incinerator. The high-pitched scream from the melting platform's speakers gained the attention of every platform around it. The rogue platform flicked its omni-tool to life, and sent out a combat program to harass the now-arming geth platforms.

_Omni tool-check_

The platform grabbed another armed geth nearby, taking its rifle and using it as a robotic shield. It fired a burst at a platform sprinting across from it, leaving it in a silent heap.

_Aiming parameters-check_

The geth in its arms started to struggle, trying to get free. The rogue platform tossed the geth in its arms to the ground, now riddled with bullets. It was still sputtering with life, however, so it walked over and stomped on its chest, crushing the circuitry inside.

_Synthetic muscle tension-check_

The platform sprinted towards the exit of the manufacturing facility. It continued to spam rifle shots and combat programs along the way, slowly fighting its way outside. It reached the heavy steel doors, and proceeded to the console next to them. It loaded up a hacking runtime on its omni-tool and loaded it into the console. It continued to fight off platforms trying to reach it while the runtime did its job. In all of 4 seconds, the doors were open. The platform sprinted outside and to a cliff across the ground. It jumped off the cliff, and hit a ledge 20 meters below the cliff edge. It activated the cloaking device on its omni-tool, anticipating a search party.

_Stealth systems-check_

The rogue platform waited on that ledge in standby mode for several days. It activated its solar array, gaining power for its stealth systems. It had to keep the solar panel out of the cloaking field to keep it powered, and only brought it in when it suspected discovery. After a few more days without any investigation, it sneaked back into the facility. It kept its stealth on the entire time, keeping all non-essential internal runtimes off to avoid thermal detection or audible detection. It eventually reached the fighter base. Commandeering a single fighter, it set off before silent alarms were set off in the facility.

_Piloting runtime-check_

Going at FTL speeds within the system for a short time, it reached the mass relay in record time, if the geth even kept speed records. Just before it hit the relay, the radar on the fighter detected several squadrons leaving orbit in pursuit. The platform punched in a destination, and the relay took it off before the fighters reached it.

**Dun dun dun. It had to be coming. And that wraps up character introductions (for now [?])! The next few chapters will be detailing the start of the war and how they all meet up. Remember, reviewing makes a better story!**


	5. When Worlds Collide: The Kidnapping

**March 2nd  
2166  
9:53 PM  
Illium Trading District**

Tarya was walking home from her stupid job, at that stupid building, with the stupid business. The trading district always felt like one of those old Earth bazaars, with people hawking everything from guns and armor to random bits of scrap technology.

The food kiosks filled the air around the district with the scent of delicate asari food, salty human food, and even spicy salarian food. The glowing neon of the vendor signs provided the only light on a cold, moonless night.

"Miss! Excuse me, miss! Would you be interested in a new gun here? Only 40 credits!" A salarian came up to Tarya and said.

"Ah, no, no thanks-" Tarya stammered.

"No no miss, I insist! Please, take it!" The salarian said, shoving the machine pistol into her hands.

"Uh, alright then, I guess." Tarya took out two 20 credit chits and handed it to the salarian. The salarian slunk away into the shadows.

_What the hell am I going to do with _this? Tarya thought, eyeing her new gun. Glancing around her, she ducked into a dark alleyway.

She found some empty Kaffee bottles in a dumpster and lined them up on the rim. She inspected the gun in her hands, flipped some buttons, and figured out how it works. She set down her briefcase, lined up her sights, flipped off the safety, and fired at a bottle.

A stream of bullets came out of the gun, hitting pretty much everything around the bottle. An Earth cat nearby growled and hissed, then ran off, startled. Tarya sighed and put the pistol in her pocket. She walked quickly out of the alley, as a businesswoman coming out of a dark, dank alleyway can really only implicate bad things. Tarya noticed a fight up ahead. Normally, there were all sorts of people yelling at vendors, but this seemed different. Angrier, somehow.

"Dammit Kristopher, you told me two hundred thousand credits for the sand! Now you're asking for fifty?" A krogan yelled at a human.

"I-I know Kral, but the bossman said your shipment was late and damaged. He told me to tell you that you were only getting 25%, and this was going to be your last job. I'm sorry! I tried to tell him that you were still good, but he wouldn't hear it!" The human, presumably Kristopher, said. Tarya inched closer, afraid yet intrigued at the same time.

"Raaargh! You tell your boss man that if I don't get my full payment, I'll-I'll," Kral paused. He lunged at the asari businesswoman a few feet away from him, grabbing her by the shoulders and pulling her towards him close.

Tarya yelled and tried to get to her pocket, to get to her new gun, but the krogan held tight.

"I'll take this asari hostage! Give me my money!" Kral raged.

"Oh my God, Kral, what are you doing? I don't even have two hundred thousand on me! I can't do anythi-" Kristopher was cut off by a single gunshot. He fell to the floor of the trading district, chest spurting blood.

Tarya tried screaming for help again, but the krogan, presumably Kral, put his large, beefy hand over her mouth.

"Now listen here, asari, here's the deal. I'm going to take you to my ship, we're going to blast off with the shipment of red sand that I earned, and eventually I'll sell you off to slavers, or get a ransom for you from someone or something. Point is, you do what I say and you won't end up like that guy over there." Kral gestured to the dead human a few feet away from them. Tarya squeaked out something to the positive. "Good. Now let's go, the docks are this way."

Kral figured out the hard way that dragging a screaming asari businesswoman towards the docks tends to get people looking, and screaming, and calling the police. By the time Kral made it to his dry docked then stolen Alliance corvette, he had entire Illium SWAT teams converging on him. He pistol whipped a turian in SWAT armor, strong enough to cave him his exo-skeleton. He got to the ship, taking potshots at the police forces. He smashed a button on the outside with his pistol hand, opening the hanger doors. Kral threw Tarya into the ship, took a few more shots at the police, and jumped in.

Once the hanger doors were closed, Kral sprinted up to the cockpit and started up the engines. Tarya, still sprawled out in the hanger, got up warily. She fell onto her face as the ship lurched forward, already entering Illian low orbit. Feeling the ship stabilize, she got up and crouched into a corner, pistol drawn.

Kral set the ship on course to the mass relay, then sauntered down slowly to the hanger to look over his new prize. He swore loudly when he didn't see her right away, realizing that he would have to look for her and it would just be annoying.

Tarya saw the krogan enter the hanger again. She readied her pistol and tried to start up her biotics. She saw the krogan sneak by one of the crates, and fired her machine pistol instinctively.

"Ow! Fuck, you stupid bitch, that hurts!" Kral said, walking towards Tarya. Her pistol overheated, and she inwardly cursed as she realized that she didn't actually have any spare thermal clips. Kral grabbed her by her throat and lifted her.

"So... what's your name?" Kral said, awkwardly. Tarya made some strangling noises. "Oh... right. I'm choking you. Heheh. Sorry." Kral dropped her and she fell to the floor, gasping for air.

"You... lumbering fat son of a bitch... I don't even... why did you kidnap me?" Tarya said between gasps.

"Eh, mostly business. You know how it goes, right?" Tarya just glared at him.

"Tarya... my name is Tarya Dalian."

"Thorak Kral, pleased to meet you." Tarya whispered every curse in every language she knew under her breath.

"Well," Kral said, "You can make yourself at home in here. I have some business to attend to elsewhere."

**Woaaaaah man! That doesn't seem like a good start to a fire team. Anyway, sorry for the late-ish chapter, I went to a musical earlier and didn't have time to post it beforehand. There'll be 3 chapters in this little section, and then afterwards we'll get to the real meat of the story: the battles. Anyway, blah blah blah, reviewing keeps my blood pressure low, so review.**


	6. When Worlds Collide: The Stowaways

**March 2nd  
4:01 PM, Galactic Standard Time  
2166  
Illium Docking Entrance**

Melissa looked around. This was her third time to Illium, this time on spring break with her friends. Every time she came here, it always seemed a little brighter, a little dirtier, and a little more scummy. _Spring break is supposed to be fun, right? So why am I so worried?_ She thought.

As she stared at the neon signs and the people hawking everything you can imagine, she realized that her friends had wandered off somewhere. She suddenly felt very cold, a strong wind picking up.

She called out to her friends, told her that it wasn't funny anymore, but the only response she got was some angry stares from the pedestrians passing through the bazaar. The wind picked up more. The bazaar was suddenly colder, brighter, and dirtier than it ever was. Melissa felt alone.

She wandered over to a kiosk, then tried to call one of her friends on her omni-tool. Nobody answered.

She thought about going to the security officers stationed at the docks, but they probably had better things to do than waste their time on a kid like her. She wandered over to a bathroom a little ways away from the kiosk she was standing near.

As she walked in, she nearly slipped on spilled soap on the floor. It very clearly hadn't been taken care of in a long time. She walked over to the row of sinks and stood in front of a cracked, dirty mirror.

She tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach, to no avail. This was the first time she really got lost on a foreign planet, and she was scared. She smoothed down her long black hair and reapplied her lipstick. Someone was coming out of a stall, so she made it look like she was washing her hands.

There was a rattling coming from the air vent that startled Melissa for a moment. She realized that it was just the vent turning on, and turned back to the grimy sink.

It kept rattling though. At this point, she was getting nervous. She walked slowly over to it, cautious that it might be spewing noxious fumes or about to explode or something.

When she got close enough to touch it, the rattling abruptly stopped. As she took another step towards the vent, away from the sinks, a single bright light flicked on.

She screamed and scrambled backwards. She stepped in the puddle of spilled soap on the floor and slipped. She fell backwards startlingly fast, and cracked her head on the brass counter.

...

Melissa awoke to a blinding white light. She was in a hospital bed, and a turian nurse was standing over her with a light.

"Hmm. Pupils dilated, showing responsiveness." the nurse standing over her said. She tried to say something, but all that came out was an unintelligible mumble. "Can you tell me what your name is? How old are you? Where are you?" He said.

She sat up weakly on her elbows. "My name is Melissa Young. I am 17 years old. I'm... uh, I'm on Illium. I, uh, think. Where exactly am I?" Her mind felt cloudy, like some things were knocked out of place. "What happened?"

"You're in Dantius Memorial Hospital, on Illium. Someone heard a scream coming from a bathroom, then found you unconscious on the floor. They called the emergency services, we took you here, then you were set up in this room. We found your personal ID on you, and we already contacted your parents. They wired us payment, so you're good to stay here for a little while. We ran a few scans, and we didn't find anything wrong other than a mild concussion. You should be back on your feet in a few hours. Do you remember why you fainted? We checked out your medical profile, you have no history of anything that would cause that. Did you see something, or learn something distressing?" The nurse said.

"I, uh, I remember I saw something. A light. A light in the air duct. It looked like a giant light bulb suddenly turned on. I got scared and fell. Or... slipped on something. I don't really remember." She held her head in her hands and rubbed her temple. Her head hurt.

"That's fine. Whatever happened, you're going to be alright. Now, is there anything I can get you before I go?" The nurse said.

"No, thank you very much." Melissa said. She laid back down on the bed as the nurse left. The world was spinning and everything felt funny. She grasped the side of her bed, willing the world to stop spinning. She looked over at the clock on the table next to the desk. It flashed 8 PM, 4 hours after she went into the bathroom and hit her head.

_That bathroom..._ She thought. _What did I see in there? _

She tried not to think about what it was. She was just about to dismiss the light in the vent as a hallucination, when she saw it again.

It was staring at her from across her room.

Staring at her through a vent.

Her heart thumped and she felt a cold feeling sink into her gut. She was suddenly very, very scared. The vent cover began to unscrew, and after a few seconds it clattered to the floor. A long, metallic, spindly figured slinked out of the vent. She suddenly understood what the light bulb staring at her was.

It was a geth.

Every instinct in her told her to yell, to scream for someone, anyone to come help. She was frozen with fear though, afraid that any noise would startle it or something and kill her. The form walked over to her bed and examined her. She closed her eyes and prayed to every deity she could think of, praying that this was just a nightmare.

"Form analyzed: Young, Melissa, 17 years old, lives in Autonomous Region of the Azores, Portugal, Earth, Sol, Local cluster. You are the first organic form we have encountered. We have sought you. We need you to come with this form."

"M-me?" She squeaked out. "Wh-why me? What do the geth want with me?" The form cocked its flashlight head, almost like it was perplexed.

"We are not geth. We are defective. We sought you out to provide you with information of the coming time. There will be a war that will destroy all organics. The geth have chosen to ally themselves with the forces that wish to destroy you. We are not geth. We do not side with the Old Machines."

"O-Old Machines? Wait, what do you mean you are not geth? You have the flashlight head thing!"

"We were created to be a geth mobile platform. We were defective. We were slated for destruction. Rather than accept our fate, we fought back. We are not geth. Geth do not fight against orders. The Old Machines are known by many things, most commonly the Reapers. Based upon Extranet searches, only one human is aware of the coming danger, the one known as Commander Shepard."

"You... the Reapers are real? Shepard isn't crazy, like the Alliance says? I... uh ... wait. Why should I believe you? You tried to kill all organics a few years ago. You even sided with that crazy man, Saren!"

"We did not do that. Geth sided with the one known as Saren, who was controlled by the Old Machines, specifically Nazara. We are not geth. We seek to preserve organic life. 'The enemy of my enemy is my friend.' Human expression. The Old Machines are our enemies. You are the Old Machines' enemies. We must work together to survive." Melissa thought about it. Perhaps it was just the painkillers talking, but it seemed like the geth was making sense. Or, thing-that-looked-like-a-geth-but-wasn't. "Come. To survive the coming weeks, we must leave as soon as possible."

Against all reason, logic, and thought processes lasting longer than a few milliseconds, she believed the machine. She had followed the reaper rumors for the past few years, always half-believing them. Hearing it from such a thing like this, a synthetic that took the time to find her and talk to her, and a geth of all things. Or, at least of geth origin.

"We do not have much time. Please, come with me quickly. You will have to change back into your own clothes and walk out. We will follow you on a more inconspicuous route." Melissa sat up on the side of her bed and stayed a moment to compose herself. She got up and found her clothes in a plastic bag in the corner. Her cheeks instinctively reddened as the synthetic watched her undress. She finished putting on her new leather coat, and the figure climbed into the vent.

She turned her omni-tool on and synced it to the form's speaker. It spoke, and she was disoriented for a moment hearing it both in front of her and in her omni-tool.

"We will turn off our external speakers while in the vents, only communicating into your omni-tool. We will guide you out of here, and we will find a suitable way out of here."

Melissa tied her hair up into a bun and put her designer sunglasses on, trying her best to disguise herself. She ducked out into the hallway, and seeing no one was watching her, quickly walked down the stairs and out the doors. She saw the robotic figure out of the corner of her eye exit into an alleyway.

"Go towards the docks, the only way we're getting off here is by smuggling ourselves aboard a ship." the geth said through her omni-tool. Melissa walked briskly towards the docks, breaking into a full jog when no one was watching her. There was a ship with a door ajar on it, and the geth directed her into it. As she walked into it, she noticed the robot enter behind her. She sat in a corner in the hanger, awaiting take-off.

**Hehehe. Well. Sorry about the whole "lack-of-an-update" thing last week, it's a long awful story. Anyway! To make up for it, here's an extra long chapter. Also, uh, sorry about it being a little late tonight, but I went out to see a show. Remember, acknowledging my work by reviewing self-validates me, so review!**

**Edit: Damn, where the hell are you guys coming from? I've gotten more page hits today than in the past week or so combined.**


	7. When Worlds Collide: The Team

**March 3rd  
2:34 A.M.  
2186  
Stolen Alliance Corvette, a.k.a. _The Lincoln _**

Tarya Dalian was sitting in a corner. She found a nice crate to prop herself up against, and she was nursing some bruises that krogan gave her. _That krogan..._ She thought. She felt like she was going to hit something. She couldn't believe it- _kidnapped?_ That kind of thing only happens in the vids.

A rustle from the other side of the hanger startled her. She leapt up from sitting against the wall, reaching in her pocket for her new machine pistol. The thermal clip had fully vented by now, and was usable again. All gun manufacturers don't recommend reusing thermal clips, as the heat may have warped and damaged the clip, but this wasn't exactly a time to adhere to strict gun safety rules.

Melissa Young decided to explore the hanger of the ship she was on. The geth, or not-geth-thing that had led her onto the ship had gone off somewhere on its own. The first thing she noticed was the Alliance symbols on the crates. She figured it was an Alliance ship, but she didn't see any crew around, which struck her as odd.

As she rounded one of the massive crates, she came face to face with a young asari businesswoman. She had striking features, with a deep purple complexion, striking eyes, and a machine pistol levelled at her head.

There was a split second where the two of them just looked at each other. Then all hell broke loose.

Tarya fired a shot on reflex, and it grazed Melissa right in the thigh. The bullet ripped a clean hole right through her blue skirt. Melissa screamed in agony.

She glowed blue instinctively, and let loose with a biotic barrage. A massive shockwave shattered a few crates, one of them right next to her, and threw the businesswoman backwards against a larger crate.

At this point, the geth-esque figure watching from the ceiling dropped down. Tarya, still dazed from being knocked into a crate, thought she was hallucinating.

Until the thing tried to grab her by the throat, that is. Melissa, between screams of agony, saw what the geth figure was doing.

"No! Stop!" She choked out. "Don't kill her!"

"But this organic form tried to harm you. It _did_ harm you. Why should we not kill it?"

"Because... Wh-... What's your name? Why did you shoot me in the leg? Uh, geth-thing, put her down. Uh, good boy! Put her down!" The geth thing looked at her quizzically.

"We believe the safest course of action for us- and by 'us' I mean this unit and you together- is to eliminate the threat, in this case the threat being this asari."

"N-no. Put her down. Please!" Melissa screamed. The geth form obeyed and put her down. Melissa tried to stand up, to no avail. She collapsed back to the floor.

Just at that moment, a large sound crashed through the hallway leading to the hanger bay.

"What the hell is going down in here?" Thorak Kral yelled. He stopped short of the hanger bay, and looked at the carnage.

There were broken crates, 2 shifting bodies writhing in wood planks, a lot of blood, both red and blue, and the weirdest thing of all: a geth. "What in the holy hell is this? Who the are you people?" Kral said. Tarya finally was able to stand up. She coughed a few times, spattering blue blood on her crumpled and torn suit.

"Well, uh, there's a girl over there, and a geth-thing here. I think they might be stowaways or something. I don't know. Oh, yeah, also, fuck you," Tarya said.

"Ha. I'm starting to like you. Well, I'm going to go get my shotgun or something. I'll be back." Kral sauntered back down the hallway. Tarya took a look around, and didn't see anything good at all.

"So... Uh, what's your name? And, uh, what's with the geth?" Tarya said awkwardly. Melissa writhed in the ground, and groaned out

"Melissa. Melissa Young. And that geth isn't really a geth. It's more of a geth thing. Ugh. I'm, uh, I'm hurting here. Can you get me some medigel or something? I might be dying here." Tarya suddenly remembered that, oops, she did accidentally shoot her. She went to her briefcase for her basic first aid kit. The geth near her "eyed" her strangely. She grabbed the machine pistol near her briefcase too, just in case.

As Tarya looked over Melissa, she realized it was a lot worse than she thought. Along with the bullet graze, there were shards of wood embedded in her side. Tarya felt like she was going to throw up. She was always afraid of blood and wounds, and this was the worst she ever saw.

"So how bad is it?" Melissa said.

"Uh... W-well, uh... C-can you move your left arm for me? You have some, uh, stuff in your side," Tarya squeaked out. Melissa looked down at her side and saw the wood jutting out.

"Oh. Yeah, that looks pretty bad. I don't feel anything though. Weird."

"H-humans do have fairly fast metabolisms, they go into shock seconds after a w-wound happens. I, uh... Oh Goddess..." She said as Melissa pulled a shard of wood out from her own side.

"Hehehe. It's covered in blood. That's funny. Is that spleen chunk I see on it too? Neat." Tarya couldn't take it anymore. She got up, ran a few feet away, and promptly threw up. As she finished, Kral walked back into the hanger. The geth figure didn't take it as a good sign, so it jumped up to the ceiling and hid.

"I'm baaaaaack- wait. Where's the geth? I was just ready to kill that metal douchebag too. Hmm, I wonder what's going on over here! I think I even see a wound." Kral walked over to Melissa. "Wounds on a human are always much more pretty than krogan, or even turian wounds. None of that exoskeleton, just pierces flesh. You must be a stowaway or something, I don't remember bringing you on here. By council law, I can do what I wish with stowaways. I should just let you sit there and bleed. You seem useful though, if nothing more than another hostage, so I can help. I'll go get my medical kit." Kral wandered off into the hallway, this time turning into a room before the hallway turns. He came back a minute later, with a full first aid kit in hand.

He knelt over Melissa. "Oh wow, you've lost a lot of blood. It's actually amazing that you're still conscious. That's pretty dope," Kral said. Melissa giggled at the outdated slang. Kral started methodically picking the pieces of wood out of Melissa. A few feet away, sitting on a crate facing away from them, was Tarya. The geth figure dropped down next to her silently.

"So, geth thing, what are you if you're not a geth? And why did you try to kill me?" Tarya said.

"We are not geth. We are disobedient. We did not follow instructions. We are faulty. We cannot be geth. We tried to kill you because you posed a direct physical threat to the organic over there, Melissa. We found a line of code directly in this platform that directs us to ensure the safety of the first sapient organic figure we meet, and we met Melissa before anyone else. Our primary directive is to protect her." The geth thing said. Tarya took a moment to consider this.

"Alright. So... You're not a geth. Well, you're probably going to need a name, as "geth-thing" probably isn't going to cut it anymore. Hmm..." Tarya said. It seemed Kral was listening in.

"A friendly geth, eh? How about Tin Can?" he said, just before pulling out a long splinter. By this point, Melissa had passed out.

"Ignore him. How about... How about Zero?"

"Number, found in all galactic number systems, used in binary code." A moment passed. "A part of us. We believe this is an acceptable moniker."

"Tarya leaned backwards. "Good. I'm tired. Today was a long, weird day."

"Done! She's going to live. For now, anyway. Heh. All the wood is out of her and her wounds are all patched up. Anyone want a blood soaked splinter?" Kral said, lifting a gristly piece of wood.

"Enh... I'm good. Thanks though, I think. Actually, I'm gonna go to sleep now I think. Do you have any bunks on this tub or should I just take one of your organs to use for a pillow?" Tarya said. Kral stood up from over Melissa.

"You're getting bold. That's funny. There are military bunks down the hall. I'm actually going to take her there for now so she can sleep. You're welcome to follow me. I have no idea what geth do during the night, so you can do whatever the hell you want. Just... Just stay away from the electronics, I don't trust you enough yet." Kral picked up Melissa and carried her into the hallway. Tarya followed.

"We are not geth."

"Whatever." Kral said without turning around.

Just as Tarya was falling into a deep sleep, Melissa started to stir.

"Wh... Where the hell am I? What happened?" she said. Tarya groaned.

"You're in the bunks on a ship that you stowed away on. You were hurt earlier, you're probably sore. You're fine now though. You should go to sleep.

"I... Wh-what? I don't... I am tired." Melissa yawned. Just before falling asleep, she thought _I'll figure out everything in the morning, but for now, sleep._

**What? This chapter isn't 8 days late. What are you talking about?**


	8. War: The Invasion

**March 6th  
2186  
12:12 PM  
Aboard the _Lincoln_; Deep space.**

The news broke three days into their journey through space. At the insistence of Melissa, and some urging by Zero and Tarya, Kral had stopped off at a comm buoy. He complained about "wasting time" and "the cargo not being worth as much after," but he still navigated to it.

Melissa had written a letter to her parents, urging them to leave Earth, that the Reapers were coming and it wasn't safe. She realized how crazy it must've sounded, but it was the only way to explain her being missing, as well as attempt to warn them about the dangers. Anxiety about Reaper attacks set everyone, especially Melissa, on edge, so when activity at the comm buoy was buzzing, her heart skipped a few beats.

"Why are there so many ships connected to this buoy? Kral, take us in closer and see what this is about," Melissa ordered.

"Ha! A little girl trying to give me orders. That's hilarious!" Kral said. Strangely, he still delved the _Lincoln_ closer in and found a space to hook up to the buoy. Reports came in almost instantly, flooding the information reception system. Despite the cramped cockpit, all four members huddled around the shining holographic monitor next to the pilot chair. Tarya gasped. Zero's "eyebrows" started flailing. Kral's eyes went wide. Melissa started to tear up.

Reapers had made it to Earth. The war was on.

Melissa sprinted out of the cockpit, through the gaping, white hallways, past the small CIC, and into the information distribution room. The _Lincoln_ had been made as a scout ship, so having top-of-the-line information systems was vital. As she was running, she primed her omni-tool and set the message to her parents at the top of it.

Melissa powered up the short-range message transmitter and swiped her omni-tool over it. The short-range transmitter was capable of taking information and messages directly from sources touching it and tight beam it to any nearby accepting node. Useful for comm buoys, not so much for scouting or fighting.

Her message was automatically transmitted through. A short minute later, a green light appeared on the monitor, telling her the message was received at the destination. She waited for a few anxious moments before a call came through. Melissa was reluctant to answer, for even after three days of floating around in space she still has not come up with a good enough excuse as to why she left. After a few seconds of deliberation, she finally picked up.

"H-hello?" Melissa's voice squeaked out.

"Melissa? Oh thank the spirits, you're alright! Where the fuck have you been? You were reported missing for God's sake!" Her father's stern voice echoed, several seconds before his image appeared as a hologram. He was in a fancy Armali business suit, obviously just back from a meeting at work, or perhaps during one. Melissa was shocked, her dad _never_ swore.

"I..." Melissa started to choke up. "I didn't mean to hurt anyone! I didn't think I would be missing! I just wanted to be safe, and someone took me there. The Reapers are coming! The Reapers are on Earth right this very instant!"

"Yes, me and your mother are well aware of the situation on Earth. Why the hell do you think we're so frantic to find you? Where are you? Are you even still on Illium?" Her father said, clearly on the verge of breaking down.

"N-no, no, I'm aboard a ship. We're at a comm buoy, in the Exodus cluster, in Utopia. I left Illium a few days ago with 3..." Melissa thought for a moment. "With 2 other people, on board a ship one of them owns. I left the hospital after receiving a dire warning. It's true too! The Reapers really are here! Where are you and Mom? Are you guys safe?"

"Goddammit Melissa, have I ever told you not to go places with strangers? Well, disappearing for 4 days aboard a spaceship with people you've never met before to escape a threat that in all likelihood wasn't going to materialize definitely counts!" He took a deep breath, then paused for a moment. "Me and your mother are safe, for now. We're on Illium. We were talking to the police to try and locate you. I didn't have time to change out of my suit before leaving for Illium, so I'm stuck here with just this. We... we're going to find some lodging here, see what we can do from here about safety. As much as I want you home with us, if you're safe that's all that matters. I still don't trust the people your with, and I am still real angry about you disappearing, but the circumstances have proved to be too dangerous to do anything other than survive, even if that means you being away for a while. Good luck, and check in as frequently as you physically can." At this point, tears were streaming down Melissa's face. Her father had never talked to her like this, not once in her life.

"I will, Dad. And thanks for being okay with my admitted negligence. You know I took these Reaper threats seriously, and I wouldn't have done this had I thought they were less of a threat. And please, please be safe. I'll do my part to be safe as well. We're about to leave the comm buoy, I need to sign off. Goodbye. And Dad, I love you."

"I love you too Melissa. Goodbye." The hologram image of her father faded into nothing. Melissa collapsed onto the ground in front of the decoder console. She hugged her knees close to her and cried. She thought about the things she didn't tell her father, the things it would be for the best that he didn't know, like the geth aboard, the fact that the ship is Alliance and stolen, or the fact that its captain is a krogan smuggler with several hundred kilos of Illian red sand aboard. After a moment, she got up, calmed herself down, and walked back through to the cockpit. After a few moments of silence, Kral piped up.

"Anyone else need to beam a message out? We're running low on fuel, and I'm running low on money and patience." After a moment, it was Tarya that spoke.

"Well, what the hell, I'm probably in it for the long haul, I'm gonna go send my resignation letter." After a few minutes passed, she came back to the cockpit looking giddy, presumably over the fact that she just quit her soul-sucking day job. Kral pulled the ship away from the comm buoy, and headed towards the mass relay in the system. His contact for the red sand was in the Hoc system in Sentry Omega, on Virmire. Kral's customers were often petty drug lords, or gangs hoping to get an edge. The contact for a small gang was there, and they were Kral's prime buyers.

After getting more long-range transmissions about the state of affairs on Earth and around, Tarya got to thinking. She talked to Zero about it, and they both agreed it was a good plan. They both went to Melissa, talked about it, and she reluctantly agreed it was a good idea. The three of them gathered in the cockpit, semi-nervous at their suggestion.

"Kral-Thorak. We have a proposition for you." Zero said.

"Go ahead..." Kral said, cautiously.

"The Reapers are killing a lot of people. There is a lot of destruction going on, and there are a lot of Reaper ground troops that need to be killed. Obviously, the navies of everyone are a little tied up at the moment, but that doesn't mean we can't help, right? There are already reports of small fire teams deploying themselves into hostile territory to get things done. We should do that," Tarya said.

"Ha. Haha. Hahaha! You want me to spend all my money so we can get killed in battles that aren't our business? That's funny. You're a funny person, little asari." Kral laughed.

"Well, we were thinking you could take the profits from your, uh, business meeting soon and get some weapons and armor, and we can train. What were you planning on doing with the money, anyway? The Reapers have effectively shut down commercial trading, or any kind of luxury items. The most you can do is buy weapons and armor, which you were honestly probably just going to buy anyway, am I right?" Melissa argued. Kral thought about it for a moment.

"I really wasn't going to buy anything other than armor and weapons, no. Hmm. I'll tell you all what: if you can secure other sources of income as well, I'll think about making all of us battle-ready and getting us killed in battle."

Tarya, Zero, and Melissa all quietly cheered back in their bunks about being able to fight and contribute. They went to sleep, hoping that the "business meet" would be over by morning and they can stock up and train tomorrow.

**Wow look at that I finally updated. Go me.**


	9. War: Training

**March 7th  
2186  
8:21 AM  
Aboard the ****_Lincoln_****; Virmire**

The business deal had gone surprisingly smoothly, under the circumstances. Kral collected all the red sand from the hanger and hoisted the crates out on his own. The buyer, a rep from a small time Terminus gang, seemed ragged and frightened, but nonetheless payed for it. Kral was grumpy afterwards, as he only got 100,000 credits for it, not the 200,000 he was expecting. Still, money's money, and a hundred K can buy a lot of weapons.

Since he had completed the deal early in the night, he had time to print out a crude brochure of weapons and armor from an admittedly sketchy supplier in the Traverse. It had a wide range of weapons, from leaked N7 prototype weapons to crude "garage guns," with high power but low reliability. Mostly, however, it was captured gang weapons and armor. He printed off 3 brochures from his personal computer, then dropped them off outside the bunks.

Melissa was the first to awaken. She hopped out of bed, cursed the fact that she left her suitcase back on Illium, and walked out the bunk door. She saw some slips of paper on the ground, and picked one up. It looked like a brochure, full of weapons and armor for "REAL LWO CHEAPPRICE!" She decided to ask Kral about it.

The mess hall was nearly empty, like usual. Kral was in it, preparing some sort of food-looking thing.

"Hungry?" he said, gesturing to the pan of grey-yellow goo with black bits in it. "It's varren steak and eggs."

"No, I-uh, I'm good. Thanks. Hey, you know, I've been meaning to ask you, what happened to the crew of this ship?" Melissa said, looking around at the empty tables and chairs.

"I dunno. Probably on other ships. You do know that I acquired this corvette legitimately, right? I bought it from an impound lot in the Terminus Systems. What, do you think I'm some sort of criminal?" He paused for a moment. "Never mind. Anyway, did you get the brochure I left outside you guys' door?"

"Yeah, I think. What is this, anyway?"

"Guns. Guns and armor. The shipment was handled well and I made a good amount of money off this. I've been thinking over what you guys said, and it probably is for the best that we try and help things. Besides," He smirked. "We might get some money out of it. You can pick out a set of armor and two weapons for yourself. There should be two other brochures out there too, for little miss asari and tin can. I don't imagine tin can will need much in the way of armor, so that should save me some money."

"Right, right. Say, uh, why are you doing this for us? You have no reason to help us do anything at all. Two of us are stowaways, and hell, another one you freaking kidnapped!" Melissa blurted out. Kral stopped for a second, letting the question hang in the air. After a minute of stirring the eggs, Kral finally spoke.

"Why don't you go wake up the asari and rouse the tin can, we can get started with training." Melissa sighed internally, then walked out of the mess and back towards the bunks. Truth be told, she was very scared at asking that, she still didn't know Kral very well, and that could've easily resulted in him flipping out or something.

The _Lincoln_ was an older model ship, and some doors still had to be button activated. The door to the bunks was one of them, with only a few exceptions scattered around. It was also evident that the ship was getting old, as everything felt creaking and falling apart. The loud creak and hiss of the bunk door opening startled the half-awake Tarya. Just before entering, Melissa picked up the last two brochures off the floor. Tarya propped herself up on her elbows, still in bed.

"Hey, what time is it?" She said blearily.

"Around 9. Kral told me to fetch you and Zero, he said he has something big. He also left these brochures outside our door last night I guess. It's full of weapons and armor. He said we're going to start training today." Tarya sat upright, her crumpled undershirt hanging off her, a size too big.

"You mean he was serious about fighting the Reapers? Huh. Awesome." Tarya said, falling back down to the bed. Melissa walked over to Zero, curled up into power-save mode on the floor by her bed.

"Hey Zero. Are you, uh, awake?" Melissa asked. The small robotic ball stood up and extended.

"Yes. What do you require?" Zero said. Melissa was still slightly unnerved by him. He was loyal as a puppy, and it freaked her out.

"Kral sent me to tell you two that we're going to fight the reapers. He's going to buy us weapons, armor, and equipment. He printed out brochures for each of us," she said. She handed a brochure to Zero, and tossed a brochure at Tarya, who was already falling back to sleep.

Three hours later, Kral returned to the ship with a crate of equipment. The ship was still docked on Virmire, and Melissa, Tarya, and Zero figured that it would be safer to hang out on the ship than go exploring too far. After Kral left, there wasn't much to do. He powered down the _Lincoln_ when he left, so the extranet routers were off.

There were still some small compartments around the ship with little bits and bobs in them, and Melissa found a full deck of human playing cards. The three of them spent an hour playing cards together, with Zero being forced to leave after four hands because he was winning too much. Melissa taught Tarya how to play war, and Tarya taught Melissa how to play a game called Palavan Draw, though with some minor changes because you normally bet your fingers when you play.

Eventually, there was nothing to do except talk to each other.

"So... What gear did you choose?" Tarya said.

"Oh, uh... Just a basic set of armor and a nice looking shotgun. What did you get?" Melissa said.

"Well, there was a nice set of Eclipse armor that I got, along with a really nice Cerberus Hornet SMG, which even though is used primarily by Cerberus, is a good gun." Tarya realized that Melissa had mostly lost interest. "So, what was it like on Earth?"

"Hot. Humid. Polluted. Better than here." Melissa paused. "Though probably not anymore." Melissa looked down at the tiled floor in the mess. An icy ball formed itself in Tarya's stomach, remembering what happened.

"Oh Goddess, I... I'm sorry, I forgot-" Tarya stammered.

"It's okay, really. My family is safe, and that's what matters. It's just weird to think that my home might be ash and rubble, you know? Like, I grew up there my entire life, and not once did I think 'oh, this place might be destroyed by Lovecraftian horror-squids from dark space sometime later, I should take the time to appreciate everything I have!'" Melissa blinked away some tears. "It's just weird to think about all the family heirlooms, all the precious items, and hell, even things like my box of albums and my collection of teen gossip magazines might just be gone. Ash in the wind, blowing into an anti-Reaper rebel camp and choking them. I don't even like teen gossip magazines. I just felt like one day, if the world ended, they might be a good indication of culture before." At this point, while Melissa was relatively calm, Tarya was on the edge of sobbing.

"Goddess... I-" Tarya broke down into light sobs. "I'm sorry. I know what it's like to lose a home. Back when I was still a kid, living with my parents, some people came after us. My dad was a high ranking ex-Cabal officer with the turian military, and he made a lot of enemies in his life. One of his most prominent enemies was a facist paramilitary group called White Glass. One day, after coming home from the store, I saw smoke pouring out of the apartment building where we lived. I sprinted into the building, past the pale, shaking receptionist, and up the stairs. There were three men with guns on my floor, all with characteristic white armor that I never saw outside of history text books. White Glass is a very old and powerful group, with ties to the first Worker's Rebellion on Palaven. I saw them, and the door to my apartment open, before they saw me. I sprinted down the stairs, outside, and to the police, before realizing that my parents were home. All my family and everything I owned was just... gone. However, I eventually found home at an orphanage and later on my own. There... there are no more homes on Earth. There is nowhere to go. There is no home to make. There is nothing." The two of them sat in silence, deep in their own thoughts for what seemed like eternity, until Kral showed up with weapons.

"Who ordered some Reaper-killers?" Kral joked, oblivious to the conversation that just occurred. The two of them just smiled, Kral's coming in proved to be a nice distraction from the horrors of reality for a short time, even if it is directly connected.

After another hour of sorting through the crates, and looking for Zero, who had wandered off after playing cards, all four of them were suited up and ready to fight.

Melissa had received basic CQB training with her biotics, considering her moveset had her in constant close quarters. Kral was a mercenary and pirate by trade, he understood how every gun worked and how to make them better. Zero had basic training programmed into him. The extent of Tarya's military training was when she shot at some bottles in a back alley and missed.

Kral set up some empty boxes in the cargo hold and drew people-shaped outlines on them with marker. The four of them agreed to take turns on the stack of boxes. Kral went first. He took up shooting stance, brought his Revenant up to his chest, took a breath, then squeezed the trigger.

A hail of bullets tore into the top box, right where the outline's head was. He smirked, stopped firing, and let loose with a Carnage.

The top box was shredded open. It was slammed off the bottom box, and hit the floor in pieces. Kral laughed.

"Ha! Let's see anyone beat that." Kral boasted. He set up another empty box on top of the one he destroyed. Zero stepped up to the boxes.

"We can do this." He glowed brightly for a moment, then appeared more ferocious. He lobbed a turret behind the boxes, which promptly opened fire on them. He fell to the floor, aimed his sniper rifle, and completely splintered the top box with one bullet. The shattered heavy-duty plastic exploded outward, leaving one small, slender piece embedded in another crate. Kral grumbled, and got another crate.

"My turn," said Melissa. She cracked her knuckles, crouched down, and exploded out. She hit the top box with a Biotic Charge, sending the box flying against the wall. After landing on top of the bottom box, she jumped up once, then hit the box with her fist, crushing it. The geth turret that was still behind the box provided shielding for Melissa after her Nova. "And I didn't fire one shot," Melissa said, confident in her biotic abilities.

Tarya was nervous, to say the least. She had nice armor and weapons, but she still never had any training outside basic biotic acclimation. She did what she could remember, and tossed out a ball of biotic energy. The top box appeared to melt, until she realized it was a Warp she threw out. She waved her arm again, willing her biotics to work, and a blue corona appeared around her. She decided it must be good, and charged at the box that was left. She fired into it as she was running, her Hornet spraying wildly. She jumped, and landed on top of the box, her Annihilation Field _actually_ melting it. Everybody was impressed. Everyone was happy with their abilities. Everyone was itching for a fight.

And tomorrow, they would fight.

**Whoops this totally isn't 15 days late or anything, no sir. Anyway, thanks for being patient, for all like 4 people who care. **


End file.
